The Road Goes On Forever

FWIW, I'm not saying that this is specifically what you're talking about, but overall the app is useless for communicating with the hotel after you're already checked in. Messages from the app are routed differently property by property. Some might have them routed to the GM's email except that doesn't mean much if it's a weekend and that person isn't on property. Some route messages to a generic property Gmail account but that won't help if the desk staff member working isn't logged in or checking it. Some use Kipsu. See my prior comment about being logged in and checking it.

The only real way to ensure the message is received is to go to/call the desk. Past that it's a crap shoot at best that someone sees what you're sending either at all or in a timely format. Also note that the amount of messages the average property receives via the app is very, very small. It's easy to forget about something that goes days at a time without occurring.

Cledaybuck

I've used it twice at two different properties and both times got a reply within 10 minutes. YMMV obviously.

retiredfromhilton

As many, many guests have found out, most propertied cannot fulfill requests for housekeeping during their stays. I don't think anybody knows when hotels will be able to hire (or re-hire) enough housekeepers to deliver on Hilton's expectation that guests can have daily housekeeping if they want it in non-luxury brands.

aww3583

There's lots of ways to do this. Each costs money. Unfortunately, Hilton has made it clear that profit is #1 and all cuts are on the table. Work staff longer hours, allow for overtime, pay more, offer better benefits, etc.

I'm in a service related industry, too. We've been forced to pay more so we can staff up. We charge our customers more so that we can stay afloat. Hilton has figured out that rates can go up. But they're going to run off customers with the lack of lounges, breakfast "credit", and housekeeping cuts.

Hilton has raised rates, and in some markets, significantly so. Assume each of these properties has 200 rooms. These hotels are pulling in $100,000 per day in revenue, at a minimum. I find it hard to believe they can't find housekeepers for $20/hr.

EDIT: Yes, I understand 1 zip code doesn't represent the state of the business nationwide. But, it paints a picture of steep service cuts with absurd rate increases.

writerguyfl

Coming from someone that worked in the hotel industry, I can state with certainty that very few chain hotels are filling their entire hotel with the retail rates you see on the hotel group website. These hotels aren't getting $100k in revenue every day.

The Road Goes On Forever

As writerguyfl mentioned, no hotel is filling their place with those kinds of rates short of large events or extraordinary circumstances. Sure they might be getting a few people to pay that, but it's not indicative of anything close to what their ADR is going to be for that night and no, a 90 room Hampton Inn in Gulf Breeze Florida is not pulling in anything close to a 100K per night. Maybe a 100K a week if they're killing it, but even that's a stretch. The rates you referenced have nothing to do with Hilton as they don't set rates unless that location is among the minority that are corporately managed. Each place sets and independently charges what they feel their market will bear.

You see stories about other industries giving thousands of dollars to new hires for signing bonuses along with higher pay rates, benefits, flexible work schedules, etc. Notice you don't see that in hospitality. There might be a few rogue properties here and there doing smaller things in that realm but there is nothing that is wide spread and sure as hell no assistance coming from the top. Pay rates are stuck in 2010, benefits are few if any and most people on Friday are lucky if they know if they work on Monday. Hilton has no juice in a property's hiring process, pay rates, work rules, uniform policy, etc. because like me, I'm not a Hilton employee, I'm an XYZ management company employee. Hilton doesn't care what I do or don't get. I don't work for them.

Most properties are run regardless of staffing on the basis that OT is not allowed and yes, right now staff are possibly working longer hours... if the management company starts classifying them as "managers" to get around paying them OT. Where the properties aren't doing that, GMs, AGMs and Sales Managers are covering multiple properties and/or are doing a lot of non-managerial shift work 6 or 7 days a week to back fill all of the open positions.

Properties are taking a victory lap right now to make up for the multi-million dollar drubbing they took last year and the industry as a whole is restructuring it's cost/benefit structure the way the airline industry did after 9/11 when fuel surcharges, bag fees, seat fees, reservation fees, etc. became par for the course. No one knows where this will end as everything is evolving and being made up as we go, but all I know for certain is that how the industry worked pre-pandemic isn't coming back and as much as people rail against it when you have the industry's heavy hitters basically colluding together to force changes on the travelling public, in the words of The Borg: Resistance is Futile.

aww3583

If they’re not selling rooms at those rates, why are those rates shown? Every room within 30 miles of Pensacola Beach will be sold out next weekend.

LSB

As someone who regularly leaves my DnD sign on the door for the duration of my stay (never did like the idea of someone in my room daily, or the environmental waste of so much unnecessary laundry & cleaning product use), this doesn't impact me much personally, but the trend is disappointing (but hardly surprising) for other plenty of reasons:

"Several of the largest hotel corporations in the US have proposed to permanently cut housekeeping and staffing throughout their portfolios as part of hotel industry recovery."In a November quarterly earnings call, Host Hotels and Resorts chief executive Jim Rosoleo noted hotels will transition to make daily housekeeping services an opt-in amenity for guests."

Park Hotels and Resorts presented a plan to investors in November to reduce full-time staffing with a projected $70m annual savings in cuts, including cuts to housekeeping services."

Pebblebrook chief Jon Bortz explained plans to continuously cut labor as part of the hotel industry recovery, and Marriott boss Leeny Oberg told investors the corporation plans to solidify savings on labor costs from Covid restrictions in areas such as housekeeping."
The Hilton chief executive also affirmed to investors cost-cutting reductions to housekeeping would be made permanent, even as his compensation increased by 161% from 2019 to over $55m in 2020, while median pay for Hilton employees declined by 34% from 2019 to 2020."A recent report from Unite Here, a labor union representing hotel workers, found plans to end daily housekeeping would eliminate over 180,000 positions around the US – 39% of all hotel housekeeping jobs."

The cuts would result in $4.8bn in lost wages for workers in an industry who are predominantly women of color. According to Unite Here, about 65% of their 300,000 union members in the US and Canada remain unemployed."


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...CMP=GTUS_email

craig44485

If they want to cut services, then that's fine, but it should also correlate with a reduction in the room rate. Cutting services and keeping the same rate, or in some cases, increasing the rate for less service will turn many consumers off and force then to look for better deals elsewhere.

pinniped

I have no idea why that list shows Super Bowl level rates for Pensacola but that is most definitely not the norm.

I've given this a lot of thought recently. Starting to plan a bunch of 2022 travel and booking none of it with paid stays at chain hotels. I'm either redeeming points or booking condos/villas.

It's clear what the post-covid strategy is for the big brands: drive out all service elements and reduce the guest expectations to bed+toilet+shower for all brands below the top luxury brands. Basic commodity thinking. A Hampton is a Hilton is a Marriott is a Fairfield is a Westin is a Holiday Inn is a Hyatt. Who has the cheapest rate in my location?

I'll still have my business trips and all the credit cards so I'll still play the points/status game to some extent. But if we want a really enjoyable/memorable stay, hotels have made it super easy for us to pick other options.

twitch76

This makes me want to request housekeeping every night.

aww3583

Checked into a large, busy, Embassy Suites resort on 7/5.

No door seals. Daily housekeeping is “opt-in” and they only drop towels and toiletries on the table inside the door. They also emptied the trash. Did not touch the beds.

Everything else exceeds our expectations. Diamond members get a coupon for 15% off the lobby Starbucks, 15% off the in-house restaurant, and upgraded internet service. Breakfast is a full hot self-serve buffet, free for everyone.

The Road Goes On Forever

Obviously none of this is a surprise. It's the same reason why all of the major players keep pushing apps and digital keys. It's not for "convenience", it's 100% designed to rif desk staffing. If app/digital key use ever catches on the way the major players want it to, eventually desk staff will go the way of housekeeping staff.

lincolnjkc

It's a little of column a and a little of column b. I don't think we're likely to see a hotel with no FD anytime soon but staffing a single person at the FD where that isn't already the case seems to be a logical conclusion... I can't remember, outside of a giant convention center property or NYC, the last time I saw multiple people at a front desk.

I like having a person available to deal with issues and answer questions, but I also love the fact that at a property I know I can digital key myself in the back door by the elevators and get straight to my room with no delay

I don't need my bed made and towels changed every day but the pitiful garbage cans typically need attention at least every other night. Anyone know if housekeeping will dump these without tiring the entire room or of I need to start requesting bi-daily service at check in?

The Road Goes On Forever

The deskless hotel has been in the works for quite some time and in the not too distant future I truly think you're going to see brands make a more serious move towards it. It's honestly the next logical step in payroll reduction, which is where we're headed. If a brand were committed to the technology you could do it now. The hard part would be getting franchisees to absorb the upfront costs and making sure that the platform you're using actually worked. Once the major players get the travelling public assimilated to the new normal with housekeeping, I truly think that the desk at some point will be next.